When it comes time to judge the Detroit Lions 2012 draft class, keep in mind how the team approaches the draft. It’s always talent before need.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew won’t reach to get a player of need, instead he will select the most talented player available in each round.

That’s one reason his draft picks didn’t see too much playing time. There’s another key reason — three of them finished the season on the injured reserve list. One — Chris Greenwood — never played at all.

“You want more of a contribution from your draft class, a lot of that was due to injury,’’ Mayhew said. “Some of that you can anticipate, sometimes you can’t.’’

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With that in mind, let’s look at the eight players the Lions drafted in 2012 starting with first-round pick Riley Reiff, an offensive lineman.

“He did a really good job, I think there are some teams he would have started for,’’ Mayhew said. “The coaches thought felt that Jeff (Backus) and Gosder (Cherilus) played really well. These guys are really prideful, I think they saw a young guy who was ready to play and both of those guys played really well, really solid this year.’’

Most of Reiff’s snap came as a tackle/tight end lined up on the outside of Backus or Cherilus. When Backus missed a game, Reiff got his first NFL start.

“Our coaches did a great job of finding a way to get (Reiff) involved and getting him on the field, he showed he belonged when he was out there,’’ Mayhew said. “We’re excited about what he brings to the table. I expect he’s going to be a good player for us for a long time.’’

Reiff could play either tackle (where he played at Iowa) or guard, but Mayhew sees him at tackle right now. Eventually he could take over the left tackle spot when Backus retires, but it’s too soon to know if that will happen before the 2013 season.

Wide receiver Ryan Broyles was coming off ACL surgery when he was drafted. So the Lions accepted the fact he wouldn’t be at full-speed to start camp and he wasn’t.

“Our second-round pick was injured early, didn’t do a whole lot during camp — came into the season and then with the injury to Nate (Burleson) he started getting more involved in the offense,’’ Mayhew said. “He gave us a glimpse of what he’s capable of. He had a couple good games, a couple really impressive games, as soon as we got really excited about him, he got hurt and he was done for the year.’’

Broyles tore his other ACL on Dec. 2 and had surgery about a week later. He’ll be about two weeks behind where he was last season if the rehab is on the same pace.

“We didn’t get a whole lot out of Ryan, but Ryan had a great rehab on his first ACL. He’s a tough guy, he’s a hard worker,’’ Mayhew said. “I feel pretty confident he’s going to get through this one too.

“You’d like to have that guy that comes in and contributes from Day One and catches 40 or 50 balls as a rookie, it just didn’t happen because of the injuries,’’ Mayhew said.

Cornerback Bill Bentley, who was taken in the third round, was projected as a starter and lived up to the billing. He just didn’t last.

“(He) has a great offseason, OTAs (organized team activities), training camp is going great and then his shoulder pops out (at Raiders on Aug. 25),’’ Mayhew said. “Once his shoulder popped out his play declined, he still played but how well he was playing after his shoulder started coming out on him. So he went on IR (injured reserve) and we didn’t get a whole lot out of him.’’

Bentley, who started three of the first four games, had shoulder surgery on Nov. 6 and was done for the season.

Fourth-round pick defensive end Ronnell Lewis was active in eight of the first nine games and played mostly special teams. He was inactive for the final seven games.

“His situation was unique because we had four quality defensive ends, and one thing we talked about on the (draft) board when we were on the clock and he was on the board was how do we get him active,’’ Mayhew said. “This was something we anticipated, we got four good defensive ends and it’s hard to get five defensive ends up.

“He had to be making enough of a contribution on special teams to put Lawrence Jackson down or put Willie Young down to deactivate those guys and he wasn’t making that big of a contribution,’’ Mayhew said.

That does not mean the Oklahoman is a bust.

“I think he’s going to be a factor going forward, I think he’s going to be a good rotational defensive end/special teams player for us,’’ Mayhew said. “He’s got ability without question, he’s good on special teams, but he didn’t have quite enough impact to put make one of those other guys inactive.’’

Linebacker Tahir Whitehead, fifth-round pick, was active for 14 games, mostly as a special teams player.

“You could continue to see him grow throughout the season so he’s got an upside going into next year. He became a pretty solid special teams player by the end of the year,’’ Mayhew said.

Cornerback Chris Greenwood, a fifth-round pick remains one of the biggest question marks on the roster since he never played in his rookie season.

He had an abdominal injury during the OTAs, had surgery and wasn’t able to play during the season.

Cornerback is a position of need again, and perhaps Greenwood at 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds will be quite an asset. Even though he couldn’t play or practice he was on the sidelines at practice and attended meetings. He’s from Albion, but the small college background doesn’t bother the Lions because he is such an athlete.

Jonte Green was the third cornerback drafted but in the end saw the most game day action. He played in 15 games and started in six of those. Mayhew said they never would have guessed this on draft day.

“He really showed some promise, he’s got some upside, he’s got some size, he’s physical enough,’’ Mayhew said. “He made a couple plays on the ball. He’s really strong and he’s gotten stronger since he got here. He’s put on about 10 pounds since he got here, he’s got some upside for next year. We think he’ll be in the mix next year.’’

Finally there was linebacker Travis Lewis, a seventh-round pick out of Oklahoma.

“Travis Lewis was a special teams guy, injured early, I think it was hamstring or quad pull early in the season,’’ Mayhew said. “(He) ended up being a special teams guy for us, I think he and Tahir will be competing for playing time next year.’’

The Lions have six picks this year for the draft which runs April 25-27.